The United States decided at the end of November to abandon the Constellation frigate program. 2 ships, whose construction has already begun, will be completed, but another will no longer rise. The U.S. Navy will look for fresh solutions, i.e. units that can be built faster and cheaper. What prescription do the Americans propose?
The decision to build a fresh kind of frigate was made in 2020, after respective years of wondering what units to replace LCS ships (Littoral Combat Ship). It was then decided to build 20 frigates based on the FREMM kind (Fregata Europea Multi-Missione), which is utilized by the French and Italian Navy. The selection of proven construction was to guarantee, among others, the fast pace of construction and comparatively tiny financial expenditure on investigation and development.
However, after the election it turned out that US Navy modified its requirements, which active the request for further redesigns, and this in turn meant an increase in construction time, a crucial increase in mass, costs, etc. The construction of the first ship began in 2022, it was assumed that its incarnation in service would take 4 years. Since last year it was known that delays were significant, present it is certain that this date has shifted by at least 3 years, and so the construction process will last 7 years.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy needs a prescription to increase the number as rapidly as possible, due to the fact that although it inactive dominates in terms of tonnage, it has for respective years given way to the Chinese Navy in terms of the number of units, as well as, and possibly above all, the pace of construction. To illustrate what this looks like in the category of cruisers, destroyers and frigates, usage the data presented in The Military Balance.
Visualization of the USS Lafayette rocket frigate (FFG 65). Lafayette is the 4th of the fresh Constellation class frigate. US Navy Graphics
During the year of landing under the USS Constellation US Navy, she had 24 cruisers, 68 destroyers, and 21 LCS-class ships (this survey considers them frigates). During this time, the Chinese Navy had 3 cruisers (the Renhai type, by another sources frequently classified as a large destroyer), 36 destroyers and 45 frigates. This year on the side of the US Navy there were 11 cruisers (including 2 Zumwalt-type ships, classified more frequently as destroyers), 74 destroyers and 26 LCS, and on the side of the Chinese 8 cruisers, 42 destroyers and 50 frigates. The ratio so changed from 113:84 to 111:100.
This comparison would have been even worse for the American side, given the size of the rocket volley, the decrease in the number of Ticonderoga cruisers and the increase in the number of somewhat armed LCS have deepened this difference. At the present rate of construction, the incarnation of most Constellation frigates would happen in the mediate of the future and early 5th decade of the century, erstwhile the difference in the number of ships owned by the above classes would look even worse from the point of view of the US Navy. So what kind of prescription do the Americans propose?
For now it is hard to answer this question unequivocally, as there is no ready-made plan of fresh kind units, which could already be implemented today. It is surely expected to be smaller and cheaper to build ships, both manned and unmanned. It is worth recalling that as of 2016, an unmanned Sea huntsman vessel has been tested, which in 2019 took a cruise from San Diego to Pearl Harbor.
There are besides respective another unmanned units in the service. Naval representatives present talk about the request to incarnate 73 tiny vessels, with “small” being a alternatively misleading word in American terminology – as specified fregates are classified. However, it seems that they will be units closer to corvettes in terms of size, which will be able to carry more weapon systems by reducing or abandoning the crew altogether. They will most likely be little autonomous erstwhile it comes to the anticipation of utilizing it, partially relying on sensors on another platforms (both sea and air).
The request to rapidly build fresh ships is clear and undisputed – the shipbuilder's Constellation complex, i.e. Fincantieri Marinette Marine on Lake Michigan is to be utilized to build ships of another classes, including average landing ships and unmanned craft. This shows, on the 1 hand, the desire and request to keep a skilled workforce, which is increasingly lacking in the US shipbuilding manufacture and, on the another hand, the priorities of the US Navy. Paraphrased by the Olympic motto, it should be said: more, faster, cheaper.
